Party in Lyon and Roanne Goat

Friday morning was a little hectic. I thought that I could sleep in but I was wrong... I totally forgot about a meeting that I was supposed to attend with the other primary teaching assistants! I have been overwhelmed with the housing situation so that has been the only thing on my mind for the past few weeks. The meeting was held in a city pretty far so by the time I realized when it was it was too late to attend... On the bright side, I got a  lot of administrative stuff done today! The lady in charge really motivated me to get some important stuff done. So the day was actually pretty busy. After having a little freakout about missing the meeting, I went to the cafeteria at the high school with Kim and Kate for lunch. It was actually really good and I think it was better than at US schools. Next time I go I will have to take a picture for y’all so you can see what I mean. After lunch, I opened a bank account, chose a french doctor, got all my social security forms filled out and mailed! Later we took the Rugby boys to the nearest grocery store. Then, Kim, Kate, and I quickly ate dinner so that we could get ready to take a train to Lyon for my friend Tony’s birthday party!

The apartment was really nice and there was a lot of people. The party was really fun! All of the people there were so nice and friendly :). I also got to see Kathie at the party! It is always so great to catch up with UGA friends.

Yay mini UGA reunion!

Kathie and I at Tony's awesome party!

I wish I took more pictures at the party. I really hope to hang out with Tony and his friends again soon! Kate, Kim, and I stayed the night so that we could spend some of Saturday in Lyon.

On Saturday morning, we all had some awesome english tea (courtesy of Kathie) and chatted some before heading out to meet Kim’s friend. We took some pictures while we waited for her in front of a statue.

Staring contest 

Kim and I in front of the statue

Then, we all went to a restaurant together and had some lunch! We got three courses, salad, entree, and dessert! 

Super Salade Lyonnaise

So-so sausage

Perfect Panna Cotta

It was fun talking to Kim’s friend because she knew french really well and she also spoke polish which was super cool! It was nice being able to talk in polish with someone here in France. After lunch, it started to rain pretty hard so we quickly made it to the metro then to the the train station. We took a train back to Roanne then walked over to Carrefour before finally returning to the apartment. We were all super tired so we all went to bed early.

On Sunday, I went to church with Fatima here in Roanne. After mass, we walked around the city because the sun was finally shining! The past few days here have been very rainy so we were excited to see sunshine. I got some pictures around the city, canal, and Loire river. One of the highlights of the walk had to be finding a cute little baby goat! It was so adorable!

Roanne Canal

awesome cloud. part of the Loire

Loire River

cute little goat!

I want this goat

Then Fatima and I got quite hungry, so on our way home we bought a pizza. It was delicious!

mmmmm pizza!

After lunch, I just chilled at the apartment, skyped my parents some, and had a cup of tea. Then, Kate and I went for a run. We ran by the river and visited the cute little goat again! We were out running for around 45 minutes. There were others running at this time as well and it was pretty good weather for a run. It was a bit chilly which is perfect for running. This was my first exercise here in france so far (except for all the walking lol) and I hope to continue going for runs a few times a week (or at least once a week). 

Tomorrow is another day off for me so I am still on my weekend :).

Enjoying my four day weekends,

Magdalena

The Teaching Begins

This week I finally started teaching! I didn’t teach my full schedule yet because there are still some things that need to be organized. I met with my inspecteur and conseiller again and we changed my schedule around a bit. Now I will be working Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning at three different schools. I will spend three hours at each school and then Tuesday and Thursday afternoon I will have my Skype sessions with my other three schools. I will have two Skype sessions on tuesday afternoon (1hour long each) and one Skype session on thursday afternoon (1hour long). 

On Monday and Tuesday I didn’t do too much. On Monday I had my schedule meeting and I figured out which bus stops I need to get off at in order to get to my schools. I moved myself to the girls' apartment downstairs for this week because the rugby players arrived. They seem really nice and I am hoping we will all work something out and that I will be able to stay at the apartment after all. I will keep y’all updated. For now I am really enjoying staying with the other assistants! They are awesome and so kind for letting me stay with them for the time being!

Cool church in Roanne that is near the school where I have my meetings

Pretty little area I stumbled upon while walking in Roanne

Here's me with the mural again in Roanne, this time comforting some kids lol

Wednesday was my first day of work! It was pretty fun! I took a city bus to get to the school and just asked a random lady about the whereabouts of the school. People here are very friendly and helpful. I went to one school and I worked with two different classes. The first class consisted of students who are about 8/9 years old. The teacher divided the class in two and she taught half and I had the other half. The students are learning about Halloween now so the teacher told them about a Jack O’Lantern legend or something. I had the students practice Halloween vocabulary words by showing them flashcards. They learned words like: spider, witch, ghost, candle, pumpkin, jack o’lantern, and bat. They also learned phrases such as "trick or treat" and "Happy Halloween". It was hard for most students to remember to pronounce the ‘h’ in the words because in French you don’t pronounce it. Also, they struggled with the word ‘candle’ but they seemed to be getting everything else pretty quickly! Then, I partnered them up and had them practice the words with each other and I walked around helping them with their pronunciation. Then, they completed a little crossword puzzle with the Halloween vocabulary words.

The second class I worked with consisted of older kids (maybe 10/11years old). The teacher in this class is pretty good at speaking english. During this english lesson, I helped the kids learn about feelings. They learned how to say many phrases such as: I’m sad, I’m happy, I’m in a bad mood, I’m cold, etc. It was cute to hear them have little dialogues in english with each other. They were all so eager to learn and to show off their skills. Then, they played a game where each person got a picture that represented one of the feelings they learned. One by one they had to ask each other “how are you?” until they found someone who had the same picture. This was a good way for everyone to practice and repeat the phrases. 

Overall the teaching went well on my first day! I really like the school and all of the teachers are really nice! 

Thursday was my second day teaching! I had to go to a further school today so I had to take two buses from the apartment. I got up super early so that I would not be late. The buses to this part of the area come only around once every 45-60minutes, so I can either be 45 minutes early or 15 minutes late... So I officially start working at 8 30am, but this morning I arrived at 7 50am...whooo! Well it wasn’t too bad because I had to figure out where the classrooms were and where I would be. I also had a powerpoint presentation that I had to get ready before the students arrived. 

At this school, I just presented myself to the three upper level classes. I showed each class my powerpoint and presented some pictures of my family, where I’m from, and of my university. In the first classroom there was a guy teacher, I did the entire presentation in french but while I was presenting, I had the kids tell me words in english (like sister, friends, family, etc.). The kids were all very eager to answer all of my questions which was cool! Then the kids asked me questions at the end. In the second class, there was a lady teacher and she wanted me to do the presentation in french because her students didn’t know too much english. In the third class there was another man teacher, and he wanted me to present myself in english. He himself spoke pretty good english because I think he studied abroad in the US when he was younger. After I finished the presentation, the kids asked tons of questions! After answering some questions, I got to read the class a story about Halloween. It was in English and it was about Halloween creatures getting invited to a party. I think the kids enjoyed it and the teacher was glad I read it because he wants the kids to get as much exposure to my accent as possible.

This school also had a cool teachers lounge where I got some tea after my second class. In the teachers lounge room I met another teacher who actually lives quite close to me in Roanne! She is really nice and she even offered to take me to and from the school every Thursday because she knows how infrequently the buses come. I was so thankful that she gave me a ride! We exchanged numbers so now I have a carpool friend! I also really liked this school and the teachers! The interesting thing about this school is that there are more male teachers here than female. I find that pretty unique... It may be because the principal is a man, but I’m not sure. Anyways its cool to work at a school with mostly guy teachers because the rest of the schools are definitely majority female teachers.

After I got back from the first school, I had lunch and then I had to go to another school to meet the students with whom I will be doing Skype lessons once a week. I showed them the powerpoint and I explained everything in french first. Then, the teacher had me do the presentation again but this time in english so that the students could hear how it sounds like in english. Afterwards they asked tons of questions! Some of their questions were really entertaining and some were pretty inquisitive questions for such young children. 

Here is one of the six schools that I am working at 

Pretty church near one of the elementary schools

Interesting things french students asked me:

“Is everyone in America fat?”

“Have you been to New York?” (this one was super popular! They were really interested in NY- I guess I need to go there)

“Do any celebrities live near you?” 

“Do you know any celebrities?”

“Where do the celebrities live?”

“Where does Justin Beiber live?”

“Where does Selena Gomez live?”

“Have you been to Hollywood?”

"Is there DisneyWorld in America?"

“Have you met Barack Obama?”

“Have you visited his house?”

“Are there a lot of shops in the US?”

“What’s American food? Burgers?” (this one came up many times as well)

“What french foods do you want to try?”

“Do they play sports in the US?”

“Are there a lot of people in the US?”

“Are there a lot of monuments in the US?

“What countries have you visited?”

I am already on my weekend since I don’t work tomorrow :) Man, all of this talking at school is great but I think I might be losing my voice... lol. Hopefully the long weekend will help it get better soon!

Can't wait to sleep in tomorrow,

Magdalena

Finally some Teaching Updates and Lyon Day Trip

Alrighty so I had a pretty busy weekend filled with some adventure and some updates!

On Friday, I finally learned some more information about where I will be working!  I had a meeting with my inspecteur and conseiller this afternoon and I finally know the exact schools I will be working at during these seven months. I will be working at two schools in Roanne and one in Villerest. At the meeting, we all talked over my work schedule and I will only be working Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday I will be at two schools, Wednesday I will be at one school, and Thursday I will be teaching via video conference. I think that it will work like skype and that will be with 2 or 3 additional schools in the area. I am really excited to have a long weekend every weekend! It will make traveling to places a lot easier :). So after the meeting, my conseiller took me to visit all three of my schools. I got to meet all of the principals, some other teachers, and I got a little tour of each school. After that, my conseiller took me to get some bus information because I will have to take the bus to all of these schools. I am so grateful that my conseiller is so helpful! He is so welcoming and friendly! He told me to call or email if I have any problems or questions about anything. I think later this week he is taking me to see the schools where I will be teaching via video conferencing so that I can meet the teachers and students. 

Housing update: There is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there is maybe an apartment available for me but the bad news is that it is not really in Roanne... it is a bit further away. I imagined it would be closer so I was ready to move there but I don’t really want to move away from the other assistants or from the centre-ville de Roanne. I quite like the location and I am getting used to where everything is around here. The other good news is that my conseiller asked someone higher up if I could stay in my same apartment at the high school even though I would be sharing it with two rugby boys and they agreed to let me stay. So he made it seem like I don’t have to move at all! But, alas this would be too good to be true... Kate ran into the secretary of the school today who told her that there would be three rugby boys arriving instead of two :( so I don’t know if I will be able to stay here. This housing situation is so messed up... I really hope that it all gets sorted out soon. The good news is the boys don’t arrive until Tuesday (supposedly), so I still get to stay in my apartment at least for the weekend!

Friday night, Kate, Kim and I randomly decided to go out to check out the Roanne night life. We ended up staying out way later than we expected... places close here like super late in the morning! We left at 4 something am and the night club was still open! The club was a little strange.. it required that you check in your coat and purse when you first walk in and then you got a slip of paper with a number on it that corresponds to your stuff. I’m not sure if this is a normal thing in French clubs or not. I was a little worried about leaving my purse but everything ended up being fine.

On Saturday, we all slept in late because we had a long night Friday night. The weather was not very good all day. It kept raining on and off. For lunch, Kate, Kim, and I went to MacDonalds. I haven’t eaten at MacDo in forever! I think the last time I ate it was two years ago when I was in France. I have heard that the food is better here than in the US  but I’m not really sure. Later in the evening, Melissa came to spend the night and we watched the majority of Les MIs because I finally got the dvd player in my apartment to work!

On Sunday morning, Kate, Kim, Melissa, and I took a train to Lyon for the day. Our apartments are close to the gare (about 15 minutes walking) so we left about 30 minutes before the train was supposed to arrive so we could have some time to buy our tickets. There was a line when we got there and there was only one person selling tickets... uh oh. We cut it really close... we boarded the train about a minute before it was about to depart! We got lucky but next time we will probably leave earlier for a trip like that especially on a Sunday (when few people work). On the train, we all chatted and even took a little train survery. We were all talking on the train and all of a sudden a french lady comes up to us and basically tells us to stop talking... I didn’t catch everything she said but she mentioned something like about how not all people sleep at night... I don’t think we were talking that loud and we were definitely not the only people talking on the train. Maybe that lady just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and so she was in a bad mood or something. 

Once, we got off the train, we bought metro tickets and then walked around Vieux Lyon. There was a race going on in Lyon when we got there. Many streets were blocked off and we saw a lot of runners. Then, we got started getting hungry so we bought some lunch at a market. I had some yummy grilled sausage, hashbrowns, and bread for lunch!

Here is a pic showing some road blocked because of the race

Here's a bit of the market

After we ate lunch, we went to a cafe where we had some crepes and tea/coffee. I tried a new tea which was red fruit flavored. I liked the tea a lot and of course I enjoyed my Nutella crepe! 

Nutella Crepe

Then you have to spread the Nutella yourself

There it is all rolled up and ready to eat!

Then we went to explore more of the city! We went into a beautiful church! Afterwards, we chilled outside the church while waiting for my friend Tony to come meet us in Vieux Lyon.

Cathédrale Saint Jean

Hanging out in Lyon

After Tony arrived, we took the metro to see another pretty church in Lyon! I actually came here two years ago when I was last in France, but I really enjoyed seeing the church again!

Basilique de Fourvière

Some of the church ceiling

Pretty angel statue inside the church

Awesome view of Lyon from the church!

All of us girls with the view

 Next, we walked down from the church back into the city, where I bought some postcards! I will be mailing some soon once I get my address situation sorted out. After walking for a bit, we soon discovered yet another church! Seriously the churches here are really beautiful!

Another cool church

Then, we went to a bar restaurant and relaxed there for a while. At first we sat outside, but then we had to move inside because it was pretty windy and chilly outside. I really enjoyed speaking French with everyone today and it was great to have Tony with us. He was very helpful at correcting our grammar mistakes and just answering questions that we had about the french language. I am happy that he hung out with us for the afternoon! Then we walked around some more and saw the city hall, opera house, and the huge fountain! 

Kate and I in Lyon

We really enjoyed our day in Lyon! We caught a train back to Roanne at about 5 40pm, this time after we bought our tickets we had around 10minutes to spare before the train departed! It takes a over an hour to get to Roanne by train but it didn’t feel long at all! We all talked the entire time we were on the train and we had a great time. There was this young boy (maybe middle/high school age) who sat near us on the train. I bet he overheard our entire conversation lol... I am sure he was entertained! We just chatted about random things on the train. We saw so many cows while on the train, and that made us think of the cow festival that is going to be taking place soon near our city. I wonder what there is to do at a cow festival...

Tonight was a relaxing night. Melissa and I had dinner and then we finished watching Les Mis. Also, we ended up watching Bruce Tout Puissant (Bruce Almighty) in French because someone had left it in the DVD player. 

Enjoying France,

Magdalena

Week Recap, Visit to St. Chamond and St. Etienne

It’s already October and I thought that I would be teaching already but I haven’t started yet. I guess I am still on vacation haha. Here’s a recap of my week so far!

On Monday, Kate and I went to Netto (which is the closest grocery store to us) to get a few things. We arrived there at about 2:25ish to find out it was closed from 12:15-2:30pm. So luckily we didn’t go too early or we would have had to wait a while! It’s so different in the US because businesses do not shut down in the middle of the day for lunch. I am still getting used to this in France. Then I went into town with the other assistants and we had some coffee and tea at a nice little cafe. On the way back to the apartment, we stopped by a little vegetable/fruit shop and I bought some fresh veggies! 

On Tuesday, I slept in until about 11:15am. I think the majority of the assistants started teaching today, but I haven’t yet. I went to the grocery store for a few other things in the afternoon, and I made sure to go after 2: 30pm haha.

On Wednesday, I tried to get more info about when the rugby players will be arriving, but the school secretary has no idea so I guess I will just stay here until they show up... Then, I went into town with Kate and I bought my first baguette :). We also stopped by the fruit/vegetable shop and I bought some red currants!! They are so good! I haven’t eaten them since I was in Poland! I really wish they would sell them in the US.

Hangin out in Roanne

Yay first legit baguette

Yummy currants

Kate and I ran some errands in town and we finally found the carrefour in the town. It is quite a bit of a walk from the apartment, but it was fun to go shopping in a big grocery store. We finally found some ground beef(which has been really hard to find in the little grocery stores) and we even found peanut butter! Later we also stopped by the train station and we bought train tickets for our orientation at St. Chamond on Thursday. Melissa (the America assistant that lives in a town nearby) came to hang out and spend the night because we had to wake up super early for the orientation in the morning. It was fun to have a guest over and all of us assistants enjoyed hanging out and talking together. 

Thursday was super busy! Kate, Melissa, and I had to catch a train from Roanne to St. Etienne at 7 20am. Then we had another train from St. Etienne to St. Chamond because that is where our orientation was being held. So we thought that we had plenty of time to get to the orientation after we arrived in St. Chamond but we didn’t quite time the trains correctly lol. The orientation started at 9am and we arrived in St. Chamond at 8: 58... whoops haha. We thought that the orientation would be held somewhere near the train station in the city, but it wasn’t. We got lost pretty quickly but we just asked people to help point us in the right direction. We somehow made it to the City Hall and there we got a map of the town. Kate led the way and after maybe 35-45 minute (mostly uphill walk) we made it to the orientation! We were only like an hour late... We didn’t end up missing too much though because the other assistants said it started late (like 9 30) so really we only missed about half an hour. 

Here's the City Hall where we got our map

View while power walking to the orientation at St. Chamond

Another nice view while on our long walk

At the orientation, I finally got to meet the lady behind all the emails. She seemed pretty nice and she told me not to worry about housing because she thinks she has found me an apartment. Well I think the Rugby Players are coming tomorrow (maybe?) so I hope that tomorrow I get a definitive answer from her about this apartment. Tomorrow I am supposed to have a meeting with someone who is finally going to show me the schools in which I will be teaching! I know I will be teaching in three different schools. Two of them are in Roanne, and the other is in a nearby town. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to create a schedule with the teachers. Next week I will be observing in the schools and the week after hopefully I will be able to start teaching!

After the orientation, we were lucky to be able to get a ride to St. Etienne from the lady in charge so we didn’t have to walk that long way again. Kate, Melissa, and I spent some time walking around St. Etienne and it is a lovely city! It is way bigger than Roanne that’s for sure!

St. Etienne

Me in St. Etienne

Then we ended up meeting some other current/past assistants who live in St. Etienne for lunch. It was really nice to talk to everyone and it was cool to meet some new people :). I really enjoyed everyone’s company and I hope to hang with them in St. Etienne soon! 

Such a filling lunch

After lunch, Kate, Melissa, and I took the train back to Roanne. It was nice to look out the window at all the green pastures. 

Train Station in St. Etienne

Kate and I 

Whoo on a train

Chillin on the train

Now I have spent exactly one week in Roanne!

Time is flying by,

Magdalena

First Weekend in Roanne

Friday was my first full day in Roanne. I got to check my email at the high school but unfortunately they blocked Facebook. I got the TV to work in the apartment which has been nice! I watched some interesting french shows like a show about couples getting married and another about a group of random people living in a huge house in Haiti (reminded me of the show Real World in the US). Also, someone came by to change the light bulb in my room because it wasn’t working. Later in the evening, Fatima found out that we could buy wifi from Orange for a limited time so that was an awesome discovery! Kate and I went Facebook crazy once we got our internet working haha. I have also been teaching Kate some Polish which has been fun! She will be a pro by the end of the program :). Kate’s and Fatima’s roommate came today! Her name is Kim and she is from Germany. She seems really cool!

On Saturday, I spent a lot of time enjoying my internet haha. I also watched the Big Bang Theory on TV. It was all in English and I was a little surprised that it wasn’t dubbed. I got to explore Roanne today with Fatima and Kate. We also met up with an American assistant (Melissa) who came by to hang out for the day. We walked all around the town and explored the shops. We stopped by a bakery and I bought a Kinder Egg!! I couldn’t resist lol. They are too good! They remind me of my childhood :). 

My Kinder egg :) 

We took a lot of pictures of the town and we all had a lot of fun! Roanne is a really nice city! I am starting to like it a lot! I also got my french number today so I am happy to have at least one thing sorted out here! 

Being silly in Roanne

Hangin' in Roanne by a cool building

Melissa and I near a fountain

Before going to sleep, I got to Skype with my family which was nice and I also got to skype with my friends Janet and Erica! They kept me updated about the UGA game as we talked. I am happy that we won! It was an exciting game against LSU! :)

On Sunday, I went to church in the morning. It was an interesting experience. It was really warm in the church at first because the church was packed! There were a lot of people there (mostly older people as I expected) but there were also a few families. There were not that many young people (like high school/college age) but I saw a few! It was a special mass today because this church just got a new organ so I believe it was the first mass in which the organ was played. It seemed like a big deal because there were like 5-6 priests there and 8 alter servers lol. I took a picture in the middle of the mass and the French lady sitting next to me took one too after she saw me take one haha! It was cool to hear familiar prayers and songs in French! There was also a guy who was recording the mass as well as the people there so I am probably in this recording lol.

Church St Etienne in Roanne

Program from the mass which had the mass songs and was also useful as a fan to cool off haha

At church

There was a projector so you could watch the organist play

The weather today was chilly and rainy. This was the first day that it hasn’t been super hot outside so the change was nice. In the afternoon, I hung out with Kate and Kim. We had a good long chat in french for a few hours! It was great to just hang out and talk! :)

Here's the toy that was in my kinder egg! 

I hope to hear from the lady in charge soon about my teaching placement and housing! Some assistants are starting to teach this upcoming week but I am still unsure of so many things!

Still chilling in Roanne,

Magdalena